Cirque Quintet
Biography
The Cirque Quintet is one of two ASYO Chamber Players ensembles. All the students in the quintet are members of ASYO. As part of the ASYO Chamber Players, Cirque Quintet receives year-round coachings from the faculty of Franklin Pond Chamber Music. Cirque Quintet was formed in September 2022. The quintet is composed of Benjamin Lee (oboe, grade 10), Collin Marbutt (bass, grade 11), Lela Stair (violin, grade 11), Anastasia Waid (viola, grade 12), and Nick Wandrick (clarinet, grade 12).
Lela Stair is currently a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the ASYO Chamber Players. Additionally, she is a part of the Emory Youth Chamber Program, where she plays in a piano trio. Her current instructor is Jessica Wu of the Vega Quartet.
Lela has participated in the Georgia Music Educators Association All State Orchestras since sixth grade. In eighth grade she served as the concertmaster of one of the Middle School Orchestras. As a junior this year, she served as principal second violinist of the 11th & 12th grade full orchestra. She was also concertmaster in the 2021 GMEA District 13 Honor Orchestra. In 2022 she attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program as a Strings Finalist. Lela has attended additional summer programs such as William Pu’s Atlanta Festival Academy, the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival, and has participated in Franklin Pond Chamber Music, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Gwinnett County Youth Orchestra. This summer Lela is headed to the Bowdoin International Music Festival s Instrumental Program to study with Kurt Sassmannshaus.
Anastasia Waid is a senior at the Westminster Schools. Anastasia began playing violin at age six and switched to viola at age 11. Currently, she studies with Yinzi Kong, the violist of the Vega Quartet, but has previously studied with Jessica Oudin, Madeline Sharp, and Virginia Billips.
Anastasia has been a member of the viola section in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra since the fall of 2018 and is currently the violist for the Cirque Quintet with ASYO chamber players. She has also participated in Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, The Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, GMEA All State Orchestra, and the Westminster Schools Chamber Orchestra, where she has been awarded Principal and Associate Principal chair. Anastasia has also been the violist for various chamber ensembles through programs such as Emory Youth Chamber Players and Franklin Pond. During the summer, Anastasia has participated in music festivals ranging from 3-6 weeks, such as Interlochen Arts Camp, Credo Music Festival, Atlanta Chamber Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Institute.
In addition to playing viola, Anastasia has been a member of her high school's Women's Acappella Chorus and Varsity Golf Team for three years. In 2020, she raised $25,000 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
Benjamin Lee is a sixteen-year-old sophomore at Johns Creek High School in Johns Creek, Georgia. He began playing the oboe at the age of 10. Benjamin served as the principal oboist in the 2020 and 2021 GMEA All-State Bands and 2022 and 2023 Full Orchestras. He has also been awarded the principal chair for the District V Honor Band since 6th grade. He has attended summer music programs at Interlochen for oboe intensives and plans to attend the 60th Governor's Honors Program as a finalist this summer. Benjamin has also taken masterclasses from Elaine Douvas and Reid Messich.
Benjamin has been playing with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra since the 8th grade. Additionally, he performs in the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra and the John's Creek High School Wind Ensemble, as well as their Full Orchestra. Benjamin is currently a member of the Cirque Quintet as part of the ASYO Chamber Players. Moreover, he plays oboe in the David Youth Ensemble, a high-school student quintet that plays during worship for the church congregation. He also played the synthesizer in the percussion section of the Johns Creek High School Marching Band.
At his school, Benjamin is actively involved in the culinary club, Korean club, robotics club, debate team, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and Ethics Bowl. Outside of school, Benjamin takes part in volunteering for programs such as Hope Johns Creek Orchestra, which aims to spread the power of music by playing for homeless shelters and underprivileged neighborhoods. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games, listening to music, and talking to his friends.
Nicholas (Nick) Wandrick is a veteran clarinetist in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra (ASYO), Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony (AYWS), Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra (EYSO), and Cambridge High School Wind Symphony. He is a member of the Cirque Quintet of the ASYO Chamber Players, a part of Franklin Pond (a chamber music institute in Atlanta). He's also been known to crash rehearsals of a local wind quintet composed of Atlanta Wind Symphony (AWS) members. In addition to the instruments in the clarinet family, Nick also plays tenor saxophone in the Cambridge High School Jazz Ensemble. In addition to these ensembles, Nick has been a member of multiple festivals including the Middle and High School All-State Bands and the 11-12 All-State Full Orchestra. Nick has also been named a Clarinet Finalist for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. Last summer, Nick attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) and plans to return this coming summer. Nick has applied and auditioned for many concerto competitions and recently won the Atlanta Wind Symphony's 2nd annual Concerto Competition.
Nick is a senior at Cambridge High School (Milton, Georgia) where he studies music under Daniel Scott, Director of Bands. Nick, who began playing clarinet in 2016, is also a student under Ted Gurch, Acting Principal Clarinet and Associate Principal/E-flat Clarinet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Nick plans to pursue music and chemistry, following his passion for touching hearts with his music and hoping to make a difference in the world of science.
Collin Marbutt is a double bassist from Marietta, Georgia. He began playing the bass in 6th grade at Dodgen Middle School. He studies with Gloria Allgood and previously studied with Moe Winograd. Collin was a String Finalist in the 59th Governor's Honors Program in 2022 and attended the summer music institute at the Brevard Music Center where he studied with George Speed. This summer, Collin will attend the Interlochen Arts Summer Festival. Collin participated in the 2021 and 2022 GMEA All State Orchestras.
Currently, Collin is co-principal bassist of the Walton Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Cirque Quintet within the Franklin Pond Chamber Music program. In 2022, he performed with the Walton Chamber Orchestra at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois.
Collin is a junior at Walton High School, where he is an honors student and takes part in Mock Trial, a competition-based club where students work together to prepare legal presentations provided by the High School Mock Trial Committee. As the orchestra president in a program with close to 400 students, Collin is involved heavily with orchestra, and frequently volunteers at local middle schools as well as at Walton.